Wednesday, 31 December 2014

With all the recent celebrations I've been thinking about something for a while and wanted to share it with you because I don't know if I'm the only person who feels this way? I have never been the one to go out 'partying' or getting drunk every weekend with my friends. I do have the occasional drinks but I don't feel the need to drink to have fun. To me I honestly think it's a little sad these days that people feel like the only way they can have fun is to drink. But it's also hard because I know that alcohol is an escape to a lot of people and it lets them forget things for a while. I mean when I do have a couple of drinks I do like the way it makes me feel, it makes me feel more confident it makes me more sociable and not so awkward or shy. The thing is a lot of people find it odd if people don't drink like it doesn't seem 'normal' to them. These days especially in Britain we are known for the amount we drink and I personally don't like being known for that. I'm not totally against drinking but I don't like the fact that people feel the need like the only way they can have a good time is to drink.

It seems to me that when someone doesn't do something that most people do it seems to sort of make us feel like we are the odd ones out. But why should that make us different? It's like if a certain group of friends like the same music but one of the people in that group likes a different genre to the rest they become an outcast? I don't know if you feel this way sometimes about these sort of things but I've never been one to do something just because every body else does it. There's been times when I've been hanging around with people who smoke but never have I once been tempted to start doing it myself. I know a lot of people have started smoking because everybody else is and they want to 'fit in' but me I don't go that way. I guess I like to be my own person and even if that makes me seem a little odd sometimes and that I'm not into the same things as a lot of people are I like the fact it makes me different. I don't want to do something just because everyone else is doing it, I don't need to drink and a lot of the times I don't want to drink. Sometimes If I'm honest being around obnoxious drunk people is my worst nightmare, don't get me wrong there are the few odd people who are actually hilarious when drunk but me I'm absolutely fine just drinking soft drinks and having a good time.

What do you think about this? Do you drink a lot? Or aren't you really fussed about drinking?

I firstly want to start of by saying that I can't actually believe it's almost 2015 like each year that comes goes by quicker and quicker.

Not much has happened to me this year I haven't done anything that is different or interesting. I started a new job and that was it and that's not exactly amazing in itself. My favourite moments from this year has got to be when I went away to Greece, Greece is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been to.

I think it was the beginning of 2014 that I decided to blog and I'm so happy that I made that choice because it's become one of my favourite things to do.

Next year I am aiming to do something different in my life I don't know what that will be but I want to feel like I've achieved something, I want to do something that makes me proud and makes other people proud.

My main aim for next year though is just to be happy. I want to become more positive and confident within myself. I want to trust myself and have faith that I can do things and to believe I can do them well. when I say 'happy' I want to try and not be so negative abouts things and try and not let the 'bad' things get to me.

It's almost 2015 and I still don't really know what I want to do in life (career wise) so I've decided to continue to do what I'm doing and to sort of 'go with the flow' and see where life takes me. Sometimes I think it could be more interesting that way because you could end up doing something you didn't expect you would do. I do admire people who know what they want and know what route they want to go down though.

But all in all I think in 2015 I'm just going to focus on me and I don't mean for that to sound selfish of course I'll be there for other people too. But I want to be as happy as I can be. 'It shouldn't matter what other people think of you the only thing that matters is what you think of yourself'. I want to keep using that phrase in my life because sometimes I honestly care a little too much about what people think.

But anyway I don't want this to be a super long post! So I'm just honestly glad to see 2014 go and hope that 2015 is a better year. I hope that for you to.

Are you doing anything nice for new year? Let me know in the comments would love to hear :)

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Yesterday I went to do some chocolate making/decorating, it was a lot of fun! My sisters friend works in a place where you can make your own chocolate so sometimes we have a go! This time was a Christmas present from my sister.

We made chocolate lollies, chocolate bars and covered sweets in chocolate. It's basically 'sweat heaven' if like me you love chocolate and have a real sweat tooth!

These pictures are only taken from a phone so they're not the best quality but just wanted to show you the kind of thing we got up to.

Monday, 29 December 2014

Instead of doing an outfit of the day I've decided to do an outfit of the month because after all If i'm honest I have worn this outfit quite a lot over the last month or so. One thing I'm really happy about is that the other week I found a jacket that I have been looking for for years! I've always had one in mind and this is the closest to what I had in mind. I purchased it from BHS for I think it was £65, it's so comfy and it actually keeps you pretty warm too!

The scarf is from Zara and I believe that was around £20. I wouldn't normally pay that much for a scarf but it looked so cosey and it's so incredibly soft and very warm! I think I pretty much wear it every day so It was definitely worth that money!

My skinny jeans are from Primark which I recently got. I love skinny jeans/jeggings and they're something I wear a lot.

My black boots are from either H&M or New Look, I think it may have been H&M! It was quite a while ago that I got these but I'm sure there's a lot of similar things to these out there at the moment. I love them, they're one of my favourite pairs of shoes that I have. The only genitive thing I would say about them is that they have those really small/thin laces which seem to come undone quite often but other than that I still love them and find myself wearing them lots!

I am a sucker for movies, I could literally spend all day watching them. I love getting sucked into the story line and getting to know different characters. I love a lot of films but thought I would narrow it down and show you what films would be in my top five favourite. These are in no particular Order.

Legally blonde

I love some of the lines in this movie and find myself quoting it quite a bit, it's such a girlie movie and one I find myself watching it a lot. Reece Weatherspoon is amazing too! A

The princess diaries

This has been a favourite film of mine Eve since it came out and I went to see it in the cinema for the first time. Anne hatherway has always been one of my favourite actresses, I think she's great!

Frozen

I've recently written a post about why I love this movie so I won't go into too much detail. I love how it's different from a lot of other Disney movies and how it focuses on the relationship between the sisters. I love the humor and the magical feel it has to the movie. The animation is amazing.

Clueless

This is just one of those 'classic' movies isn't it? Love it!

Tangled

I really love animated movies tangled is another favourite of mine. Mandy Moore does a great job playing repunzle. It has a great soundtrack and it's just a sweet movie.

As you can see I'm very much into the chick flick and cute romantic comedy films! What films do you love? Let me know in the comments

Sunday, 28 December 2014

First of all I would like to apologise for the sort of blurry picture that you may see! My camera is broken and am needing to get myself a new one but in the meantime have to use this one which doesn't focus properly! But anyway, I thought I would share with you my recent favourite skin care products or things that I use in the bath.

Bubble Bath

I am a sucker for baths, I just love them a bit too much and think I have a bit too many sometimes haha. In a bath I always love to get myself some nice bubble bath we often try different ones in the family but out of the ones that we have used there has been some clear favourites for me and that is this 'Dove' fine silk bubble bath, it's so relaxing and it doesn't have the strongest scent to it but it does smell nice.

Soap and Glory body spray

I've seen so many people rave about 'Soap and glory' products and personally haven't tried any of their items but really wanted to see what everybody was on about. I went and purchased this body spray and honestly it is one of my all time favourite sprays that I have ever used it smells so good! I know I'll definitely be buying it again, and would love to try some more of their products.

Conditioner

This conditioner is something that I have used for a long time along with another conditioner It just seems to do really good things to my hair which is always great!

Body Butter

I sometimes also use those body butters, this one here is actually a gift someone had got me and so far I'm liking it! Lemon scents are one of my favourite smells and all in all it's just a cute little tub of body butter.

Saturday, 27 December 2014

This image here is something that Someone who you may be familiar with 'Shay Carl' introduced to me. Not that he personally introduced it to me but having watched him and his families videos it's a topic that he has talked about quite a lot with this image in mind.

This is one of my favourites because it's something quite personal and I think a lot of people can relate to and feel inspired by what message this picture is trying to send out.

Now when I heard people say 'happiness is a choice' I didnt agree totally with it, because of course you get things like depression and other illnesses which can make it harder to believe this.

I myself have never had depression but there has been some points in my life when I have been very low and very down about a number of things. The quote 'happiness is a choice' has seemed to stuck by me and it's something that I try to live by now. Somedays it's hard but the key to believe this saying is to actually 'believe' it and remind yourself and just try and see the positive in things that don't seem so positive.

There's two ways in which you can look at things in life. Say something not so great has happened to you that day it's so easy to be so negative about it and it's so easy to ruin the rest of your day but try and focus on the positive, there's always a positive thing in something negative.

The little guy in the picture is choosing to be happy when all the others are sad. I'm not saying we always have to be happy, but the way I think of it is that you only live one life so try and be as happy as you can possibly be.

I really do try and live by this message even though sometimes it's easier said than done but I just wanted to share this image with you and hope that you maybe feel a little bit inspired by it like I did.

I don't think this saying is something that you either agree or dis agree with it's something that you have to believe and try out yourself and see the results.

Friday, 26 December 2014

So you've all heard of 'Frozen' right? If you haven't where have you been? For me personally this is one of the best Disney films ever been made. I love everything about this movie, the love, the soundtrack, the magical feel it has to it and the story line. My favourite thing about this story line is that it's not the 'typical' falling in love with the prince and having a happily ever after, Frozen has it's own spin on love.
Most Disney films if it's about relationships/love is directed at the girl falling in love with the guy and they end up getting married or something along those lines. What I love about Frozen is that it's not just focussing on the falling in love with someone but it's also focussing on the love between the sisters and families.
It's all so magical and so well put together. I love how every single song gets stuck in your head and you'll find that something during your day will refer back to the movie. 'Let it go' literally gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, it's such a powerful/meaningful song and something that everyone can relate to.
It's a really 'feel good' movie it always leaves me feeling great at the end. I would have loved to have seen this in a big cinema I can imagine the sound effects and the animation sounding and looking amazing on a big screen. This isn't a review as such but just wanted to share some reasons on why I just love this film and why It has become one of my all time favourite movies.

Thursday, 25 December 2014

I'm a little sad because Christmas day is nearly over! It just all goes by in a blink of an eye, you wait all year for it to come around and then it's gone before you know it. Christmas day is a day where I try to leave all my worries and things behind and just enjoy my day with my family. I got some lovely gifts and I loved buying gifts for others.
So I woke up at about 8.30 washed my hair and then opened stockings with my family sat on my parents bed which is something we do every year. For me I haven't felt as Christmassy as I usually do, not because I don't like Christmas just because for some reason I just haven't felt like it was Christmas. This year was the first time I've worked on Christmas Eve so I think that makes you feel less Christmassy.
We then started opening our presents and drank some wine and listened to Christmas songs.

Before we started preparing for our Christmas dinner we went on a walk with the dog down by our local river the weather today was lovely! For most of the day we had a clear blue sky with just a few clouds making their appearence towards the end of the day.

A couple of hours later it was time to stuff our faces with some delicious food!

I'm a little bit gutted because my camera is broken so it can't take really clear pictures and it literally today while I was using it smoke started to come out of where the flash normally flashes!

No idea what I'm actually doing there!

After some chitter chatter around the table and filling ourselves up as much as we possibly can we then settled down to watch ELF which I absolutely love! Ate a few more choccies and now we are sitting around watching some telly. I am trying so hard to stay awake so I think It's almost time for me to go to bed.

Thursday, 18 December 2014

This post is a bit of a tough one to write not because I don't know what I want to say I know exactly what I want to say I just want to make sure it comes out right. This post title came in mind because all my life If I'm completely honest I have always wished I had someone else's body, or someone else feature or to actually be someone else. I know that we all do it, we all compare ourselves to others and it's so easy to get caught up in wishing to have what we can't have.
I've struggled for so long with confidence in myself, my image I think I care a little too much about what other people think of me, I know I shouldn't but I can't help it.
Do you ever just walk past another girl and think "Oh, I wish I looked like her!" or "I wish I was brave enough to have her style!" I know I do each and every day. But let me tell you that is so incredibly unhealthy to do, I am my own biggest critique I point and pick at every single thing I do I over think things way too much and I just tend to list down all my flaws and ignore the positives in myself.
I know that because I'm actually quite a shy person I've always been saying to myself how I wish I was as confident as they are or as outgoing as they are. It's so sad that sometimes we wish to be other people or be like other people. The only people we can be is ourselves, we need to try and be the best version of us as we can be. So maybe instead of wishing we were like others we could use them as inspiration? If you liked an outfit someone was wearing, try and bring that to your own style. If you like the personality of someone else think of a way that you can bring that into your own personality without changing yourself completely. I hope you get what I'm trying to say. I'm just getting to a point in my life where I'm so fed up of wishing I was like someone else and I just need to start focussing on me, I need to learn to love who I am and embrace it. I know it's going to be hard confidence doesn't come just like that it takes time but I hope that one day I will be truly and completely happy with everything about myself and that I can just accept my flaws.
xxx

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

I can't believe how quickly Christmas is approaching us, it's almost here! I've seen 'The Christmas Tag' floating around quite a bit and so as someone who absolutely loves this time of year I wanted to do it myself, even though I personally haven't been tagged but it looked like fun!

What's your favourite Christmas movie?
The Polar Express! I just really love that film. Elf is also another favourite of mine I just find it hilarious and I adore Will ferell. Oh and also The Holiday and Love Actually!

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve?
Ah, never! We always open our presents around late morning/lunchtime depends on how long it takes for everybody to get ready!

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
I have many! Before some of my relatives passed away we would spend Christmas in my grand parents house in Doncaster and they had one of the nicest houses I have ever been to (We were so sad when they sold it!). But we had quite a big family so we would all go down to theirs and just generally have a good time with each other. Since the numbers of our family have sadly gone down we usually now just take turns to have it at each others houses either in Doncaster or Switzerland, or of course my home town. But I think one of my favourite memories which isn't actually a particular one is just getting to spend time with family and making lots of little memories.

4. Favourite festive food?
Definitely Christmas dinner! I love those little sausages and just pouring lots of gravy on me food! And of course anything chocolaty!

5. Favourite Christmas Gift?
Hmm, If I'm honest I don't think I have a certain favourite gift I usually love the gifts that I get given.

6. Favourite Christmas scent?
Oh Gosh, just anything that has a cinnomen scent to it I absolutely love that smell!

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
We definitely did have a tradition when we were all younger, me and my siblings/cousins would go and sit by the chimney and tell Santa what we would like for Christmas. We also go on walks on Christmas eve!

8. What tops your tree?
It's actually different each year, sometimes we put a star on top or sometimes we'll put an angel on top.

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?
I don't think there was anything really crazy that I asked for? Maybe there was, but I can't really remember. Although I was desperate for a hamster when I was younger (honestly still would like one now) But I think that's as 'wild' as it got.

But look how cute they are!

10. what's the best part about Christmas for you?
Definitely just getting to spend time with family and relatives who we don't get to see a lot over the year, catching up and just having a good time!

Monday, 15 December 2014

I know that I'm really late in this 'what's in my iPhone tag' and honestly I don't actually have the most interesting apps on my iPhone. For some reason I'm really interested as to what other people have on their phones and wanted to do this tag myself.

So as my lock screen I of course have something Christmassy, I just love this photo!

My apps aren't ordered in any particular way although I do use messages and Instagram the most so have out those two at the start. I then have all the typical apps like Facebook, twitter and so on. I use the weather app quite a lot, I just like to see what's going on with the weather although sometimes I don't think this app is totally correct.

The flash torch app is really handy to have, because we all lose our keys or something in the dark don't we?

Timehop is one of my favourite apps, I love seeing what I did a year or two ago and sometimes it can be really cringy with the things I've written on Facebook haha!

If you play the ukuele or the guitar like myself it's really useful to have a tuner app on your phone, it's so simple to use.

I only have a few games and Have just realised the title is 'kids games'!

Flow free is my favourite game, it's one i will play over and over again even if I have completed all the levels.

Snoopys fun fair is 'fun' to play (see what I did there?) it lets you build your own fairground and the more money you earn the more levels you unlock and the more items you can buy.

As someone who loves to take a lot of pictures I love discovering new photo apps. Rookie is an amazing app, with so many different photo effects to choose from.

Aviary is also another great app, where you can easily change the lighting of your photos and you can add frames or words or anything really!

Then for my entertainment apps I of course have blogger! Buzzfeed is a really good app to have whenever your in a situation where you need to 'wait' for something you can flick through the feed while your waiting for whatever your doing.

This wallpaper app is great to have if you like using a lot of different wallpapers, HD photos which look great on your phone background.

I am a dominoes lover! So whenever I order a dominoes I just use the app on my phone.

And then for the apps that I hardly use I've moved them to the last page just so that they're out of the way a bit.

So that's it! I don't have a lot on my phone but the apps that I do have I use a lot so I recommend them all to you! :)

Sunday, 14 December 2014

Evening everyone!
I am super exhausted writing this post after a long/stressful day at work so I am trying not to fall asleep while writing this post! I have also just finished watching the live finals of the x factor, I'm really happy that Ben won! He seems like a really lovely/decent guy with a great voice!
Well anyway, we hung up our Christmas decorations the other day and It's just making me even more excited for Christmas. I had so much fun testing the manual focus on my camera and wanted to share some pictures with you. You may see a lot more Christmas pictures coming up within the next month but hey can you blame me? If you would like to see more pictures of my photography work you can follow me on IG which is @BryonyGracePhotography_